Epcas Assembly 2022

After 2 years break it has happened again the reunion of the European Catering Associations assembled the leading event companies from all over Europe twice a year. This time we had the honor to host this group of creative mindsets in Budapest, Hungary. Despite the actual challenges I could feel that the spirit of continuation was never stronger than now. So, it was our call from Terra Catering Hungary to roll out the red carpet and show how great and creative events can be in our beautiful country.

Pre-Arrival Day

First travelers with prearrival joined already by Saturday and the place to stay was the Barceló Hotel in the Király utca. Party district and very lively and buzzing environment even in wintertime. With about 10 guests we walked over to the majestic Four Seasons and enjoyed a round of great cocktails in the new Múzsa Bar with his glamorous design and architecture a highlight to discover Budapest.

From here we ordered a couple of Taxis and drove to Solid Restaurant the new wine and tapas Bar located in the Rum Hotel. An ideal place to get a great night view on Budapest such as discover great local wines and a food concept with small portions to share on the table. The cuisine is inspired by the famous fine dining restaurant Salt in the basement of the Hotel. We had truly a lovely time sharing probably the entire snack menu amongst our group so everyone could experience various flavors which have been very well presented.

After this great first dinner we went back to the party district and bumped into the very crowed Gozsdu udvar. However, we found this extremely pleasant as for us caterer this looks like life and back to normal. We had a table booked in Spíler Original with a casual, yet dramatic atmosphere completely packed with people. Couple drinks later around 1 AM we moved forward to the Boutiq Bar a place not to be missed and finished the night with some unique cocktails and probably som shoots. A great first night out and some lovely expressions for our guests.

Day 1: The Meeting

This was our main day and further guests arrived so all together we counted 30 members of the European Catering Association. Leaving our friends, a bot time to dicover the city on their own until Lunch time before we all gatheres for our meeting. From 2 PM onwards and against classical conference spaces we decided to hold our Meeting at the Secret Bar of Spíler Shanghai. GReat advantage if was located a stine's throw away from the Hotel and the Gozsdu udvar was decorated with a lovely local craft market. A fantastic walk-through which people really enjoyed.

Arrived in the Spíler Shanghai we have been greeted with some fresh bite size food over jumbo prawns, fresh mini burger, and creative snacks and a good glass of local wine. Then at 15:00 we started our meeting in the Secret Bar which was perfectly organized and fitted our guests in an eclectic atmosphere. The 3h meetings were very useful and reunited the spirit of our industry as never before. The flame and fire are there we must have to have a fair chance to expose events like before. Terra Catering Hungary presents a voice of the local catering industry and we truly recognized that the entire catering industry in Europe experience all similar effects. Some have more support from government some less but at the end of the day nobody can perform as before. Never less the challenges it gave truly to all members time to reinvent, to brainstorm, to become better, fresher, and stronger as never before.

We see more positive vibes than any desperate thinking, this is the true spirit of our industry, never give up.

Day 1: The Dinner

The dinner was the highlight during our trip. To spice this entire experience a bit up we met in the Hotel Lobby and walked over to the Andrassy Street while waiting for our Bus. Until now when it comes to Epcas transfers it was always a Coach or small Shuttle Bus. But not if Terra Catering is organizing the transfer. Upon on arrival our small group could not believe their eyes when a Real Party Bus with bumpy disco music and all colorful light and sound installations parked in front of them. Doors opened, music was loud, and party was ON!!!!

Everyone got their phones to take pictures and live videos while entering the Bus. People were so amused and immediately in party mood that we didn’t have to do much on the bus to create a better feeling.

A fresh glass of sparkling Krisecco from the Kristinus winery was the perfect start to this trip. After leaving we had to make a quick pit stop at the Hero square to get this incredible view on Andrassy Street. After a group picture on the square, we move onwards to our final event venue which was the Gabor M. Szoke Studio in Csepel.

Upon arrival we entered the impressive Studios which has been set up and tailormade from the morning by Terra Catering with a great support for all Sound and Light Installations from Special Effects. Entering a venue at the beginning of the event is probably the most important key factor. We had the coolest Music by Vasovski Live Band with their 5 heads main group. Fantastic lighting and the overall sound were like an endless party mood. Immediate coat rack service was provided by our lovely hostesses and then the show of Terra Catering could start.

3x variations of Fingerfood and 2x Premium Canapés.

• Erring Mushroom Coated In Red Miso, Crispy Quinoa
• Goat Cheese, Rhubarb Relish, Aged Goat Cheese
• Shrimps Lollipop, Miso Yuzu
• Smoked Scallops, Venison Bresaola, Avocado-Yuzu Dressing (Premium)
• Blue Fine Red Tuna Tartare, Mandarin (Premium)

What does it mean Premium Canapé? For us it is on one side to use extremely high level and selected ingredients, but the bigger focus are the presentation tools. We created and built ourselves special trays and supports which looks very entertaining and catch the immediate interest of the client. We guarantee an Instagram able moment while serving these canapés.

And we don’t stop here as within our very interesting Fingerfood designs our service surprises the guests with our brand-new line of creative welcome drinks. Before I spoil you with too many secrets, I would love to keep the excitement until the next blog and tell you more how we serve our drinks and how do we involve our clients into preparing these drinks with us together. Pure entertainment and people sharing videos and pictures become a regular habit of our creative welcome drinks by Terra Catering.

After this mind-blowing welcome reception spiced up with fantastic live music, impressive Fingerfood and even more entertaining drinks such as very elegant and super friendly service we entered the next phase of our surprising dinner. The owner of the Studio and personally Gabor M. Szőke and partner Berta Hauer were present during the reception and welcome our group for a private and exclusive tour through the working ateliers. People were fascinated and blown away by the artwork and all hidden secrets of Gabor and Berta. Certainly, to only look at this works is one thing but once you got all hidden facts and features, the real wow effect comes up. We are very impressed and stunned about this tour which took us 30 minutes before coming back to the dinner.

Round 2 for the Team of Terra Catering in presenting the plated dinner for our guests. After seating we served great Hungarian wines and premium water from VOSS which we sourced from Culinaris. The bread service was probably the most unusual our members have ever seen. A long with a selection of 6x different homemade breads which are presented individually to our clients and served upon preferences there was another little surprise on the table.

The world first butter candle for Catering events designed and developed by Terra Catering. Yes, you heard right a real candle inside a beautiful glass cube container. Our Event Manager Julia than personally hand over our Terra branded lighter which shall be used to light the fire. You can imagine the face of our guests. What is that? I should light the butter up and then eat? How crazy is that idea and how creative, you guys are out of the mind. I truly have never seen this before in my life.

The plated dinner contained the following dishes which was plated on our new and very colorful porcelain:

• Crab Salad, Baby Zucchini, Cavia
• Slow Cooked Hereford Veal Cheek, Smoked Onion, Cured Pork Belly
• US Prime Grilled Tenderloin, Chestnuts, Black Truffle
• Barangoló

I still here the words from our colleagues and you can imagine that the impressive reactions and super positive feedbacks from top level caterers out of Europe is certainly a benchmark recognition for our efforts. All dishes were personally presented to each client which had a very personalized and long-lasting impact on our friends.

A big round of applause for our entire kitchen and service team which delivered from A-Z an outstanding performance in terms of quality, details, entertainment, and personal experience you talk about.

From the main course onwards the amazing Vasovski Live Band came back on stage, and I promise you we didn’t even reached desserts before almost everyone was on the dancefloor. It was not planned like this our intention was to have good vibes along the dinner, but the music was so freaking good than no one could sit still on their chairs.

We grabbed all these positive vibes and emotions and moved on to the Szimpla kert after dinner with two separate shuttle buses. We finished the night here with probably the most attractive ruin pub bar in Budapest. With this highlight and we closed our night with all our friends for a full day with emotions, experiences, and lots of care for hospitality.

Day 2: Meeting, City Tour, Lunch

The second day was a quick snapshot, and we took the short cut and started the meeting by 9:00 in the Barcelo Hotel. This took about 2h and we had a very exciting presentation of impacted future services for the catering industry. Secret stories but we will reveal them soon amongst our services.

After our meeting and no we cannot miss this which is a personalized city tour however with the target of food secrets. Meeting our lovely Tour Guide Veronika Kővágó in the Hotel Lobby which explained us shortly the tour and then handed audio guides which functioned as head set to understand better what Veronika must tell us.

Leaving the Hotel, it took us only 3 minutes before we bumped into the next surprise as our travel support was a real Retro Bus from the 1960’s and people were like little kids by entering this special bus. The tour took us than over the market hall up to the castle and fisherman’s bastion and back over the Margit bridge to the Basilica. The tour was more than excellent explained, and I am not saying this to do something good here but Veronika explained it so well that all of our guests paid 2h full attention to her stories and funny backgrounds. Seriously one of the best tours I have ever made. Big applause to her.

After all these insights and city highlights, we got our Lunch served at the Nudli Restaurant in the city center which was a great casual yet local food experience to close the whole trip. Everything was perfectly prepared, while people sit down and could immediately start with some Hungarian Cold Cuts, after this we experienced a classical dishes like Goulash soup, cabbage pasta with various sider meat options and a sweet treat with the Somlói Galushka.

All in all, a quick and very tasteful Lunch which was just the perfect fit for this time and after the lunch people could immediately walk back to their hotel without being in hassle of driving through the city.

This was the program of the Epcas Winter Assembly 2022 organized and hosted by Terra Catering in cooperation with the Epcas Hospitality Center in Maastricht the Netherlands. We are proud that to have had the chance to bring so many super stars on one table and having great discussion and trends shared.

Epcas is not only a group of professionals, but we are also family, and this is the engine and inspiration for many more people in our industry.